Document withheld from Public Reveals DOE Cost Estimate for Plutonium Pit Project at Savannah River Site Hits $16.5 Billion, Over $5 Billion Higher than Current Public Estimate
A key U.S. Department of Energy document assessing the progress of planning for the proposed plutonium pit project at the Savannah River Site includes a cost range billions of dollars higher than what has been previously known. DOE has not made the document public and it is only now being released by a non-profit organization tracking the costly project.
The document prepared in 2021 by the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) estimates that the controversial project to fabricate plutonium pits (cores) for new nuclear warheads could range from $8.7 billion to $16.5 billion, far higher than the currently known cost range of $6.9 billion to $11.1 billion.
The cost estimate for the SRS Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF) – also known as the SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant (SRS PBP) – is presented in a brief report by a NNSA team that analyzed the SRS pit project in March 2021, three months before the current cost estimate was released and the complicated project given the go-ahead. The review of the documentation to move ahead with the pit project is titled Critical Decision (CD)-1 Independent Project Review (IPR) – Savanah River Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF). [Correct spelling is “Savannah.”]
The SRS pit “project review,” requested by the acting administrator of the NNSA, was obtained on January 9, 2023 by the public interest organization Savannah River Site Watch via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
>> full SRS Watch news release, with links to the NNSA report and other relevant documents: SRS Watch news on NNSA plutonium pit cost Jan 25 2023
Photos by High Flyer of SRS MOX plant, which DOE now wants to transform into the SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant, to fuel preparation for full-scale nuclear war (US policy)